New Texas law: Arrest, deport illegal arrivals
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Starting in March, Texas will allow police to arrest migrants who enter the state illegally and give local judges the authority to order them out of the country. The new law comes two years after Texas launched a smaller-scale operation to arrest migrants for trespassing.
The results of that operation raise questions about the impact arrests have on deterring immigration as Texas readies to give police even broader powers to apprehend migrants on charges of illegal entry. Civil rights organizations have already sued to stop the new law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
On Thursday, the Justice Department told Abbott that it will also bring a lawsuit unless Texas reverses course on the new law by next week, according to a letter that was first obtained by Hearst Newspapers.
Since 2021, Texas authorities have arrested nearly 10,000 migrants on misdemeanor trespassing charges under what Abbott has called an “arrest and jail” operation: Border landowners enter agreements with the state authorizing trespassing arrests, clearing the way for law enforcement to apprehend migrants who enter the United States through those properties.
The arrests have drawn constitutional challenges in courts, including claims of due process violations.
Abbott suggested this month Texas may soon phase out the trespassing arrests as it moves forward with illegal entry charges that can be enforced most anywhere in the state, including hundreds of miles from the border.
The trespassing arrests have been a cornerstone of Abbott’s nearly
$10 billion border mission known as Operation Lone Star that has tested the federal government’s authority over immigration. Abbott has also sent an estimated 80,000 migrants on buses to Democratic-led cities, strung up razor wire on the border and installed buoy barriers on the
Rio Grande. Last week, Abbott sent a flight of 120 migrants to Chicago in an escalation of his busing operation.
The trespassing arrests are spearheaded by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which said the operation has resulted in more than 37,000 total criminal arrests. Spokesperson Ericka Miller said officers have stopped gang members, human traffickers and others from entering the country.
“Had we not been there, all of it likely would have crossed into the country unimpeded,” Miller said in an email.